Hawaii 2019 (page 4 of 11)

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Day 4

Nothing planned for the day – only that we can’t go above 1000 ft. in altitude before noon today, based on our dive yesterday. No worries. We ate out on the lanai (balcony) and had eggs, toast & yogurt for breakfast, along with coffee & mimosas. Gotta love vacation!

We relaxed for a bit & decided to go to a coffee plantation in the afternoon. Greenwell Farms was about 30 minutes away, and had gotten good reviews, so off we went. They actually mark, on the highway, when you go above 1000 feet – I assume this must be for people who have gone diving. We found the place with very little trouble. The tours were free & ran every half hour. They gave samples of many of their different coffees as well.

It was a great tour. Chai, our tour guide, was very knowledgeable. She pointed out avocado trees (over 30 different varieties on Hawaii alone) as well as navel orange trees & papaya trees. Greenwell Farms is the oldest coffee farm on the island and she showed us some coffee plants that were over 100 years old. The beans only grow on new grow stems, so the trunk of the tree is very old, and almost dead looking but from it sprout the new branches. They have to schedule the trimming so that a year later, they’ll have a crop – all very interesting. She explained that the bean grows from a flower – the flowers were just starting to bloom there, and would be in full blossom in about 2 weeks – then they are called “Kona Snow” because all the bushes are covered with white flowers. They are related to a gardenia, and the flower was fragrant. Mike did find a few green coffee “cherries” already growing on one bush. The beans have to be peeled 4 times before they are roasted. All coffee on the island is Arabica bean coffee. “Kona Coffee” is based on the region only – it is not a TYPE of coffee. Also – for true Kona coffee, it has to be 100% Kona beans – otherwise, it’s a poor substitute. They do all of the growing/ processing/ packaging on site – including getting the beans certified.

The assistant tour guide was "Buster", a chocolate-lab mix, who came along on the entire tour. Although at the end, he shirked his duty of guide. All of the sudden, he sprang up, and tore down the hill and started going after what looked like a long PVC pipe. He’d kicked it around and drug it around and then barked & barked at it. Apparently, some critter, perhaps one of those evil, evil squirrels had been spotted & he was GOING TO GET IT. The tour ended with Buster still barking at the pipe, so didn’t find out whether the critter escaped or not.

On our way back, as we drove through Kainaliu, we found “Rebel Kitchen”. There was a line of people but the food sounded good, so we got in line as well. They have a mascot dog “Gumbo”. We didn’t see him “in person” but he has his own Facebook page and twitter account, and it kept us amused as we waited in line. We placed our order at the counter and then sat inside the small shop. We both a got a glass of “Big Island Starshine Ginger Beer” – which is a ginger-infused beer and quite refreshing. Mike got a Philly Cheesesteak (made with Big Island grass-fed beef) and Pepperoni Fries (French fries fried with Pepperoni). Greta got the “Coconut Curry Ono & Shrimp”. The food was great, although Mike wasn’t too impressed with the addition of the pepperoni to the fries.

From there, we back-tracked a bit to a road which would take us down toward the ocean. It was 18% grade and DEFINITELY a steep decline. That took us to the far end of Ali’i Drive – where it was more of a highway at times than a tourist street. We drove up until we got to the Ali’i Garden Markets – which was Farmer’s Market that was supposed to a have a lot of local crafts & things. But nearly all the shops were closed. The weather was nice but based on the forecast from the day before, we wondered if a lot of shop owners decided to stay home or if maybe Sunday was slow enough, they didn’t stay open. So that was a disappointment.

Because we had such a large lunch, and pending bad weather, we decided we’d stay in for supper. We backtracked a bit to “Da Poke Shack” to pick up two different kinds of poke – the Shack Special (sweet) and Spicy Garlic Sesame, then it was back to the condo for the night.

The wind & rain picked up for a bit and it was very overcast most of the afternoon. There was a rainbow after one of the rain storms moved through, but we didn’t get a picture. Rain/wind moved in and out a few different times that evening. We stayed in, and enjoyed our poke, along with wine, Dutch Gouda & crackers.

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